Originally a cast member of The Ultimate Fighter season 18, he fought to get on the show despite suffering a torn hamstring prior to his elimination bout against Lee Sandmeier on the pilot episode.

While the injury kept him from continuing after teams were picked, Gorman kept himself in the news with his eccentric personality, challenging Bryan Caraway to a fight…with a date with his former coach Miesha Tate on the line.

While he didn’t get the fight booked against Caraway, Gorman impressed the UFC brass enough to be one of only three male fighters from season 18 to get an opportunity to compete inside the Octagon. He’ll be battling Mitch Gagnon tomorrow (April 16, 2014) on the preliminary card of The Ultimate Fighter Nations Finale in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada on UFC Fight Pass.

Gorman spoke to MMAOddsBreaker.com during a guest appearance on The Verbal Submission about the benefits of moving to Team Alliance, why he’s so confident against Gagnon and what his ideal date with Miesha Tate would be in this exclusive interview.

Check it out:

Editor’s note: Thank you to my co-hosts Ben Thapa and Gerry Rodriguez for helping with this interview when I had technical issues.

Brian Hemminger: How does it feel to finally hear the words “UFC bantamweight” in front of your name?

Tim Gorman: It’s the greatest feeling ever. That’s actually the first time I’ve heard somebody say that. It’s pretty cool, man. It got me fired up. It’s been my dream and that’s what I’ve been waiting for. That’s what I’ve been putting all the work in for.

Brian Hemminger: You told me that you before we got you on the show that you’re actually on the beach right now. What beach are you at and what are you doing out there?

Tim Gorman: Yeah, I’m actually out at Pacific Beach in San Diego. I just finished some training at Alliance MMA and hit the bag for six rounds earlier to get a little sweat going. I came out here to the beach with a couple of my teammates and we’re just kicking back, enjoying the nice weather and just hanging out.

Ben Thapa: What does a torn hamstring feel like and how on Earth did you win a fight and knock out an opponent with one?

Tim Gorman: Well, a torn hamstring feels like shit (laughs). Really, it was more mentally hard on me. I knew I shouldn’t be fighting. I knew it was a serious injury based on what the doctors had told me prior to the fight and with everything on the line, it was more upsetting than anything. I was kind of blocking the pain out. Really, my plan heading into that match, my goal was to not take the guy down to be honest with ya. I was just gonna stand with him but he just kind of gave me the takedown and I went ahead and took him down and just started throwing bombs. The next thing I know it was over. I really don’t how I did it. I just kind of winged it and things ended up being alright.

Ben Thapa: What was your mindset at the time? Were you just trying to push through it? Were you trying to cover it up and hope nobody would find out?

Tim Gorman: Yeah, I didn’t want anybody to see it. That was one thing I was worried about. I didn’t want the UFC to find out about it and not let me fight. That was basically my main concern because I’d been working so hard and so long for this ultimate goal of making it to the UFC and whether I was injured or not wasn’t going to take away my chance to do what I’d been putting all the work in for.

Really, it was just a matter of my mind was set that I was going to fight in the UFC and I didn’t really care what was in front of me. I was gonna do it whether my leg fell off or not.

Ben Thapa: What has your camp been like for this fight against Mitch Gagnon?

Tim Gorman: Well I moved out here to San Diego to train with Alliance about four months ago. My old training partner Jeremy Stephens did the same thing five or six years ago and he’s been winning all his last fights in the UFC and he invited me to come out here so I thought I’d try my luck out here and train with these guys to see what happens.

Brian Hemminger: What’s it like to work daily with some elite bantamweights like Dominick Cruz over there?

Tim Gorman: Oh it’s awesome man. There are some killers out here. My weight class is stacked man. I’ve got Baby Joe from Bellator, Jordan Parsons, Jeremy Stephens, Dominick Cruz, Rolando Perez, lot of really good talent. Just from training with those guys in genearl, you feel like you can go against the best in the world. You know you’re a competitor and you know the guy you have to fight isn’t as good as these guys. The coaches are always keeping you on your toes as well. I’m fully confident that these are all the best guys in my weight class and Mitch Gagnon doesn’t stand a chance.

Brian Hemminger: How do you feel about entering hostile territory in Canada against Gagnon for your fight?

Tim Gorman: It really doesn’t matter where you fight somebody. What really matters is how good the fighter is. With this training camp I’ve had and having put all the best guys against me, I don’t feel that he’s as good as the opponents I’m going against in practice so that’s gonna ensure me the win.

Gerry Rodriguez: Do you still have beef with Bryan Caraway and is that a fight you still want?

Tim Gorman: I don’t have any beef with Bryan Caraway to be honest with you. I could care less about him. I just want to take his girl on a little date.

Gerry Rodriguez: Now say Bryan Caraway had accepted your challenge and you choked him out. Now you’re on a date with Miesha Tate. Where do you go?

Tim Gorman: You know, I guess I haven’t really thought that far. I have to get the date first. I might as well take her out to San Diego since I’m already out here, hit up the beach. Maybe take her out to dinner. I’d just have to play it by ear.

Gerry Rodriguez: Ideal scenario for you, how do you win the fight?

Tim Gorman: I think knocking someone out standing up always looks the coolest. Ideally, I’d like to knock him out standing up. I always thought flying knees are pretty cool. Head kick knockouts are pretty sweet.

Tim would like to thank everyone who’s supported him back in the 515, his training partners at Alliance and the gym and all his fans watching and cheering him on. You can follow him on Twitter @TimmyGormanMMA.

Brian Hemminger has been involved in MMA since 2007, and is highly regarded for his well-researched and knowledgeable interviews. He has hosted The Verbal Submission MMA podcast for three years and was a staff writer at MMAmania.com from 2011 to 2013 with an extensive background in live coverage, fight previews and post-fight analysis.